When Ohio University freshman Autumn Humphries tells people she is a rapper, their initial reactions are almost always a mixture of surprise and shock.
“They look at me, and they say, ‘You don’t look like a rapper. I would have never guessed that,’?” she said. “I’m just a college student expressing my artistic abilities.”
Humphries — who performs under the moniker Autumn Perfect — cites herself as not only a rapper but also an author, poet, singer and fashion designer.
Humphries is one of the few female rappers in Athens, and the only female rapper who competed in the OU Battle of the MCs hosted Saturday by the Black Student Cultural Programming Board.
Being one of a few female emcees doesn’t seem to faze Humphries, however.
“It seems like it’s more of a big deal for everybody else than it is for me,” she said.
With rap beginnings as early as sixth grade, Humphries said she originally kept her hobby to herself because female rappers were unusual.
“It wasn’t normal in middle school to see a female rapper, so I kind of fell back a little bit and kept my rapping separate from school,” Humphries said. “I would just go home and write and write and write.”
Humphries came to OU to pursue a degree in civil engineering and chose to keep up with her creative hobbies. She met Corey West, founder of Black Collar Productions, an emcee group founded in Maryland and the D.C. and Virginia area. He heard her rap and they began collaborating.
Not only does West consider Humphries to be the best female rapper he has ever met, he said he considers her to be one of the best rappers he has ever met.
“Honestly, there are not a lot of female emcees,” West said. “Autumn’s the first female emcee that I’ve met, and personally, she’s probably the best I’ve ever met.”
Akil Houston, an assistant professor of African-American studies who teaches a hip-hop course, said he has met a few female rappers at OU but none that has done any consistent work.
“As a female emcee, it’s difficult because, on one level, you have to fit these fantasies of what a lot of younger rap fans expect of women, and then, if that’s not enough, you have to sort of figure out what your own identity is,” Houston said. “With a male emcee, it doesn’t matter what you look like. You can be skinny, fat, tall — whatever. It doesn’t matter if you’re good.”
Humphries’ talent makes her quickly accepted, but it does not change the fact that she is one of the few female emcees in the game.
“I feel like it still hasn’t changed,” she said. “It’s still not popular for a female emcee anywhere. Even in college, I’m the only female rapper that’s in the Battle of the MCs.”
Humphries said she hopes her rapping changes long-held perspectives.
“At the end of the day, I want to make sure that the world knows who I am and who I am as an artist.”
gm220908@ohiou.edu
